Synopses & Reviews
Essential reading for anyone planning to design an eco-home
Designing an eco-house is as much about working with your natural surroundings as it is about planning to use the right materials for your building. In this book, Christopher Day draws on his extensive experience to explain the key principles of ecological house design. Beautifully illustrated, it highlights how aesthetics arise from eco-responsible design: they are not add-ons, nor are ecology and art in conflict. This book will give you essential guidance in working with your surroundings, understanding what you can do yourself, choosing your materials, making sure your eco home suits your needs, eco-building without relying on technology, and refitting an existing building. This book is essential for anyone who wants to create a beautiful home that is in harmony with its location, is a healthy and pleasant place to live, and is environmentally friendly.
Review
“This gentle book offers a route out of the nightmare of so much callous modern construction. I was inspired.” —Colin Amery, Financial Times, on Places of the Soul
Review
“Presents ideas not only for a healthy planet but a healthy spirit—ultimately two conditions that are irrevocably linked. Day addresses the costs of building, from environmental pollution to social consequences such as crime and ill health. He looks at place and the unseen influences the environment imposes upon us, and he considers the past, both as a means to understanding the current condition of the planet and as a source for the wisdom we’ll need to design this new spiritually healthy earth.” —Natural Homes Magazine on Spirit and Place
Synopsis
Designing an eco home is much more about working with your house's place and situation than relying on intrusive technology and hi-tech materials. In this book, Christopher Day draws on his extensive experience to explain the key principles of eco-home design, using common-sense methods to create a pleasant, comfortable and healthy home.
With beautifully simple hand-drawn illustrations, Christopher takes you through:
- Using the local topography, combined with landscaping, to improve your home's microclimate
- Designing to keep your home dry and warm in the winter, and cool in the summer
- Minimizing hidden environmental impacts
- Making the house safe and healthy, both emotionally and physically
The book includes several case studies of eco hoomes, reviewing (with hindsight) what worked well and what could have been better.
About the Author
Christopher Day has studied architecture and sculpture and has been committed to eco-architecture and an ecological lifestyle since the 1970s. He has received four design awards, including a Prince of Wales Award, for his work on eco-houses and Steiner schools. He is the author of Consensus Design, Dying: Or Learning to Live?, Environment and Children, Places of the Soul, and Spirit and Place.